One of the biggest Halloween retailers in the country, Spirit Halloween, has confirmed the company will be selling Caitlyn Jenner costumes at its pop-up shops throughout the nation this year, reports New York Daily News, and a lot of people are offended by the product. [10] “Caitlyn Jenner has proven to be the most important real-life superhero of the year, and Spirit Halloween is proud to carry the costume that celebrates her,” Spirit Halloween PR and marketing head, Trisha Lombardo told Daily News. [10] The costume comes with shorts, a padded top, a wig and a pageant sash that reads “Call Me Caitlyn” for those who don’t get it. [18] Apparently, the costume, available from Wholesale Halloween Costumes, Anytime Costumes, and the Spirit Halloween retail chain, is guaranteed to ‘make you the top news story of the night’. [8] However, news that the image of one of the most visible transgender celebrities and so-called “civil rights activists” is being packaged as gear for the gruesome holiday season has many claiming the company’s decision is not only insensitive, but transphobic. [1] Liberals are absolutely FURIOUS! The idea has been branded “totally disrespectful” and the item has been qualified as a “culturally insensitive outfits” byHollywood Life. [2] They find it offensive because “it will reduce Caitlyn and everything she has done to a mere outfit. Even worse, it’ll be a costume — a joke.” [2] They also argue that it’s “ruining Halloween.” [2] “To make a costume out of a marginalized identity reduces that person and community to a stereotype for privileged people to abuse,” writes activist Addison Rose Vincent in a Change.org petition calling for Spirit to do away with plans for a costume. “In this case, if you follow through with production of a Caitlyn Jenner costume, cisgender people will purchase it to make fun of her and our community.” [6]

Nevertheless, Spirit Halloween PR and marketing head, Trisha Lombardo Trisha Lombardo insisted Spirit Halloween’s decision to carry the costume shouldn’t be viewed any differently than other products the nationwide chain carries sporting the visage of other famous faces. “At Spirit Halloween, we create a wide range of costumes that are often based upon celebrities, public figures, heroes and superheroes. We feel that Caitlyn Jenner is all of the above and that she should be celebrated. The Caitlyn Jenner costume reflects just that,” she wrote in a statement to the Huffington Post. [12] The “Unisex Call Me Caitlyn Costume” is under the “humorous” category of costume supplier WholesaleCostumes.com. [16] However, Vincent Villano of the National Center for Transgender Equality disagrees. “There’s no tasteful way to ‘celebrate’ Caitlyn Jenner or respect transgender people this way on the one night of the year when people use their most twisted imaginations to pretend to be villains and monsters,” he toldHuffington Post on Friday. [12] It’s not surprising that the news has offended sensibilities, but everyone knows that Halloween was taken over by the grown-ups years ago, and the market for ‘adult costumes’ is centered around provocative attire. Try finding on Halloween party without a Slutty Nurse or a Slutty Nun. A look at Spirit Halloween’s online merchandise reveals three separate Marilyn Monroecostumes, and one each for Nicki Minaj and Hugh Hefner. [5] If you think a Caitlyn Jenner costume is offensive, you will not be happy about some of Spirit Halloween’s other offerings. How about a priest wielding a huge erection or a pregnant nun? Let’s all relax about the Caitlyn costume, at least until we see what it looks like. It’s Halloween, anyway, not a christening. A Kim Kardashian costume would be much scarier! [5] Twitter users also flooded the social media site expressing their anger over the costume, with one writing: “The fact so many straight men want to dress up as Caitlyn Jenner for Halloween is beyond me I am disgusted.” Another added: “If i see anyone in a “Caitlyn Jenner costume” this halloween.. my momma better hold me back..” [14]

The company is not divulging any further info about the costume, but don’t be surprised if it’s based on that now iconic Vanity Fair cover. [5] The outfit will reportedly be released once the item goes on sale in approximately four to six weeks. [1] Jenner’s rep, Alan Nierob, declined to comment. [10]

Bill Wallace is a self-fashioned writter, a computer programmer and cybermarketer from Quebec City, Canada who decided to enter the political arena after his disillusionment with the socialist system under which he was living in the french canadian province of Quebec.

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